Jim and Eileen Collins with Martin McGuinness

Eileen Collins (nee Sheils) 1942 — 2007

Republicans from across Ireland travelled to Derry City last Friday (June 15) for the Requiem mass and burial of Eileen Collins (nee Sheils) who passed away peacefully on Tuesday, June 12.
Eileen’s father, Paddy Sheils, former O/C of Derry Brigade Óglaigh na hÉireann, was a legendary Derry republican until his death in 1957: arrested while on active service during Easter Week; imprisoned in Frongoch; on hunger-strike in Mountjoy; and placed on an RIC ‘shoot-on-sight’ death list.
Eileen’s mother, Brigid ‘Ma’ Sheils, first experienced the impact of British rule when – as a girl of 13 – she witnessed Paddy being arrested. In later life Brigid went on to marry him. Between them, Paddy and Brigid imbued their family as faithful custodians of the promise of the 1916 Proclamation.
When she was aged about 12, Eileen recalled coming home from Mass past the Little Diamond one Easter Sunday and seeing her father, Paddy, standing reading out the Easter Proclamation with only 20 to 30 onlookers present. Being just a child of 12, Eileen became a bit embarrassed. And when Paddy arrived home, Eileen asked him why he bothered holding a meeting when hardly anyone bothered to attend. Eileen always recalled the words her father replied: “As long as there is a wee spark, it will fan a flame.”
And, after marrying Jim in the early sixties, Eileen was always ready to nurture that spark of republicanism and fan the flame of Irish freedom. The late sixties and early seventies were hard times for Republicans in Derry. Even though she was pregnant, Eileen was herself assaulted by the RUC at Duke Street on October 5, 1968. Her Ma’s wee flat in Columbcille Court saw the first victim of Bloody Sunday, John Johnston, being tended to by Dr McDermott. In the late ‘70s, Eileen and Jim moved from the Rossville Flats into No. 12 Cable Street – opposite the Sinn Féin centre. And the faithful contribution that Eileen and Jim made to the Republican struggle continued and intensified during the 1980s and 1990s.
In short, Eileen and Jim’s house always beheld an open door and a safe haven for republican activists. And their limited family resources were constantly at the disposal of the Republican Movement – a contribution for which the entire family suffered non-stop raids, disruption, harassment and surveillance during the course of three decades.
Eileen was a former member of the Pádraig Pearse Cumann, alongside Mitchel McLaughlin and Barney McFadden, among others, in the 1970s. Eileen was a constant supporter of the rights of Republican political prisoners – regardless of their own particular allegiance. Her Republicanism was truly inclusive and non-sectarian: one which, in the spirit of Tone, promoted liberty and equality for all. This characteristic was aptly summed up by Mitchel McLaughlin during his oration for Eileen when he remarked that – although she always stayed the course with her own principles and beliefs as a Sinn Féin supporter – Eileen also respected those within the republican family with whom she may have disagreed. And she often did so with a quick wit and good laugh, Mitchel recalled.
Among the hundreds who attended Eileen’s funeral were Martin McGuinness, Martina Anderson, Raymond McCartney, Mary Nelis, and Gerry Ó hÉara. Eileen’s cortege was accompanied by a full guard of honour from the Republican Movement, and she was laid to rest in the City Cemetery just yards from her own parents, Paddy and Brigid.
Solas síoraí da hAnam uasal.

BY JARLATH KEARNEY